Lessons I Have Learned in My 74 Years Part One

Since I'm going to be seventy four on December 2nd it is a good time to think on lessons I have learned in all these years.

1. "Treat others as you would want to be treated." This comes from what is often called the Golden Rule in the Bible. Luke 6:31

2. "Be kind to one another."

3. "Love one another." All lessons from Sunday School.

4. We are to share and be generous as is possible. I always liked to let my sisters have the biggest piece of pie or cake so I could peacefully enjoy mine.

5. "Do not covet." Be happy with what you have. We don't have to have everything we want.

6. Be faithful and true to your word.

7. "Love the Lord your God, have no other gods."

8. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

9. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23  That includes me.

10. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

11. "Christ died for us." Romans 5:8  Each one of us.

12. These lessons took a while to sink in and to be personal for me. I may have been in Sunday School all my life but I didn't really hear the message until I was a young adult. I thank God for a praying Grandma. When I read old letters from Grandma I can see she was trying to get the message across to us.

13. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

14. Man made religions can not save us. Works don't save us. Only God can save us.

15. Then after we are saved we want to work for the Lord.

!6. Too soon old, too late smart. I wish I had learned so many lessons earlier in life. I wish I had known how to share the love of God more with my children.

17. I love, love, love my family and would like to go back and do some things different than I did when we were all younger.

18. Love people but don't count on any one person to make you happy. Only God can fill us with Peace, Hope and Joy!

19. But we can still treasure our friends and family. We need to share the good news of our Lord's love with them. People are all that we can take to heaven with us. Not things.

20. I still need to learn to share the good news clearly. I don't want to lose the opportunity.

21. Both of my grandmothers were not afraid to share what they believed with us. One shared Jesus love, and the other shared her Jehovah Witness belief. Thankfully I did not follow the way of the cult. This Grandmother was a dear lady despite her teachings. She was one of the original Jehovah Witnesses from the early 1900s. She went door to door well into her 80s. If we would be so dedicated to our Lord.

22. When Paul's Dad became a Christian in his 50s he became a very dedicated man of God. At that time Paul's Mother turned to her Christian Science belief. She had sent Paul and his brother to the Christian Science Sunday School in the earlier years when they were young, but she had not been too serious about that belief until after Paul Sr. was a Christian. She used to go to the doctor but when she became a more serious Christian Scientist she did not go to the doctor any more. This is sad since she ended up with breast cancer. She did get some care from a Christian Science practitioner and went to a sanitarium similar to a hospice. She died on her 60th birthday. We understand that Paul's Dad led her to the Lord before she died. We are thankful for this.

21. When Paul Sr. became a Christian we had been going to First Baptist Church in Coronado for around five years. He used to drive us to church sometimes, or at least he drove the children to Sunday School sometimes. After a while he decided to go too. You never know what will touch somebody's heart to lead them to church and to the Lord.

22.Thankfully Paul had read a little Gideons New Testament that he had received at school when he was quite young. He wrote his name in it where there is a place for a confession of faith. He believed and was saved. When he was a teenager he went to one of the churches in Coronado that had a good choir since he liked to sing.

23. Even though I didn't accept the Lord until I was a young adult I was attracted to church and the youth group at our church. I did not know I needed to profess the Lord as Savior. I probably thought I was a Christian. Thankfully I eventually got the message. I don't remember hearing this at the Methodist Church where I went for years. I will not blame the church though as I may not have been listening to what I needed to hear.

24. I continue to learn life lessons each day. We never stop learning. Who would have ever believed I would be at the computer writing. I avoided learning the computer for a long time. Laura still has to rescue me on a daily basis.

25 We can begin to learn patience but I don't know if it is possible to master it. At least I'm learning not to get so upset if I miss a bus. Buses are going to be missed in this life and it is not the end of the world.

26. Enjoy your children while they are with you. They grow up fast. And don't make a habit of losing your cool in front of them. Lesson learned the hard way.

27. Appreciate your parents. It is too late to thank them when they are gone.

28. Remember to thank a teacher. I had many good teachers but do not remember thanking them. I used to go back to the school to visit at least one favorite teacher though. May God Bless good teachers.

29. Listen to the sermon on Sundays, (or Saturdays). Write notes on the message to help remember.

30. Enjoy Christian fellowship.

To be continued  :)